Ontario is reporting the highest daily COVID-19 case count in nearly a month, logging more than 600 new infections today.
Provincial health officials confirmed 636 new cases today, up from 508 cases on Saturday and 563 on Friday.
The last time Ontario’s single-day total exceeded 600 was on Oct. 9.
Today’s tally is nearly double the number of cases reported last Sunday, when 340 new infections were reported.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases continues to climb in the province, hitting 468 today, up from 349 just one week ago.
Of the cases confirmed today, 325 are in those who are unvaccinated, 248 are in individuals who are fully immunized, 48 have an unknown vaccination status and 15 are partially vaccinated.
Nearly 85 per cent of Ontario residents aged 12 and older have recieved two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and 88 per cent have received at least one shot.
The regions with the highest number of new COVID-19 infections today include Toronto (60), York Region (49), Simcoe-Muskoka (47), Niagara Region (45), Ottawa (42), and Peel Region (41).
The Ministry of Health says two more virus-related deaths were confirmed in Ontario today, bringing the province’s death toll to 9,898.
With 27,146 tests processed over the past 24 hours, officials are reporting a provincewide positivity rate of two per cent. It is the first time since early October that the positivity rate has hit two per cent.
The number of COVID-19 patients in Ontario intensive care units fell to 126 today, down from 133 one week ago.
Ontario’s known, active COVID-19 caseload is now 3,800, up from 3,015 seven days ago.
Dr. Barry Pakes, of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, said the uptick in cases is “very concerning.”
“We’ve seen a consistent but slow decline and now that finally the weather is getting cooler, everyone is getting back together, we are seeing a little bit more momentum in some of the school cases,” he said.
“We are looking forward towards the winter vacation and thinking to ourselves what are things going to look like in six to eight weeks and that’s where we need to be a little bit concerned.”
Despite the rise in daily case counts, Pakes said he does not anticipate that Ontario will see a fifth wave of the pandemic.
“I don’t think we are going to see a wave. A ripple, or a continued trickle is probably what we can expect, unless we see another virus that will escape the vaccine or is more transmissible and I really don’t expect that in the next couple of weeks,” he said.
“But as people get together, things are going to increase, and it really depends on everyone’s behaviour.”
